How Chris Cornell And Slash Almost Formed Band Will Shock You

Former Slash’s Snakepit singer Rod Jackson claimed in a new Appetite For Distortion interview that late Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell and Guns N’ Roses/ex-Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash almost formed a band together in the 90’s before he was selected as the singer of Slash’s Snakepit. It’s unclear though how valid Jackson’s claim was, as Cornell never discussed this in any of his interviews and neither has Slash. Cornell and Slash did collaborate on “Promise” in 2010. Alternative Nation transcribed Jackson’s comments.

“So Johnny [Griparic] and I had played together, and in passing he said: ‘Hey Rod, how would you like to come down and demo some songs for Snakepit?’ I’m thinking Slash, Snakepit, putting two and two together, I said, ‘Sure.’ I went down there and they’d tried out like 300 singers, Chris Cornell was one, God bless.”

He also discussed auditioning himself and joining the band.

“You’re in Slash’s world, it’s a big [thing] brother. I realized that when I got there, [they] gave me this cassette, back then you gave each other cassettes. I went home, [listened] to the songs, got in the corner. I remember saying to myself, hey man, ain’t no one two swing, you better knock this son of a bitch right the fuck out on the first swing. You better bust ass on it!”

“I think they went through a lot of singers, so I knew if I didn’t bust this out man they were going to pass me up. I knew this was real.”

“That was a lot of work. It was a lot of work, I disappeared when I got in that band. I learned a lot from those guys, I became a student. They had already done it and been there. I went to one of the best colleges in the world, it was the university of Slash. You learn good things, and you learn bad things.”